"Then I said to the samurai zombie: 'You can kiss my ass, you pervert, I'm going to defeat you, get my underwear back and rescue the skeleton in distress; now feel the wrath of my steel!'"
Camie squealed, furrowed her brows in terror and squeezed Pappug, who had an equally horrified look on his starfish-y face. Beside her, Hachi looked stunned, his fishy face puckered in concentration of her story.
It was evening on the Sunny-Gou, an hour after the Mugiwaras had all glutted themselves on octo-man made takiyoki. They all sat higgly-piggly on the torch lit grassy deck of the ship; more or less around a low set dining table. Sanji had made them all tea of different flavors; serving the takiyoki makers – namely Camie, Pappug and Hachi. Zoro was apart from the group, sleeping off his small ration of takiyoki. Robin was drinking her fifth cup of tea while Nami sat next her, pointedly ignoring the third female of the pirate crew; the girl currently telling the tall tale. The tale weaver, Jiru, had laughed obnoxiously at a situation Nami had been in earlier and ended up getting sick – gorging on takiyoki and then laughing your lungs out was a terrible idea. The navigator was currently miffed at her female friend.
It took fifteen minutes to convince her dramatically concerned captain that, no, she wasn't dying from food, and yes, she had peed herself from laughing so hard. Chopper, their doctor, and Usoppu, their sniper, diagnosed Jiru's sickness as the 'laugh-til-you-barf' disease. Nami didn't feel the least bit sorry for her friend.
Now, Chopper, Luffy and Usoppu were engrossed in the fabricated story; which was created on Usoppu's dare; as rules of the game they were playing indicated. The game: Truth, Lie or Dare, was the evening's entertainment. Nami had gone first and had dared Usoppu to tell, truthfully, the story of how he joined the Mugiwaras. It took some doing, as the sniper had to really use his brain to relate the encounter truthfully – even using the outrageous lies he had used in the initial meeting.
Then it was Jiru's turn, as Usoppu passed the torch to her; daring her to outdo him in fabricating a tall tale that would make their newest friends – Camie, Hachi and Pappug – wriggle in horror. It looked like she had succeeded; and so it was her turn to Truth, Lie or Dare someone.
"Ah, Jiru-san, that wasn't what happened." Brooke spoke up from his spot at the low-serving table on the grass. "I believe, ah, the situation was reversed; you were the mademoiselle in distress and I came to the rescue."
"Yea, so what." Jiru lifted her head from where it rested on Luffy's shoulder. "But the game's rules state I have to accept a Dare, a Lie or a Truth. I accepted a Dare, so Usoppu dared me to make up a horror story to scare Camie and Hachi. So I thought the story of how you fought Ryuuma would be scary if I swapped the roles."
The game's other rules stated that the person whose turn it was, had to choose either a Dare, a Lie, or a Truth, then the person doing the asking would try and make up some insane Dare/Lie/Truth scenario and out-psych the other person. If the person refused to do the Dare/Lie/Truth, the person would lose and be out of the game. Eventually, it would get down to two people, and the person who out-psyched the other – make the other person refuse to do the Dare/Lie/Truth – would be the winner.
The game was the creation of Usoppu; something the sniper had made up before they all crossed into the Grand Line. It had history also, having started out as frivolous and stupid; before the competitive natures of some of the crew (Nami, Usoppu, Zoro, Sanji) turned it into a damn serious game. Usoppu was currently the ruling champion of it; having out-played everyone. His record: 101 wins - 14 losses. Vivi had once won against him; having forced him to flub on a Truth.
"Ah, yes, I forgot." The skeleton chuckled; he had been so wrapped up in his own thoughts as the younger female had re-told the Thriller Bark story of how Ryuuma, himself and her met for the last time. He wasn't accustomed to Jiru telling lies. "I was just thinking about the real thing, that's all. My apologies, Jiru-san."
"Shishishishishi." Luffy wrapped his arms around the woman who was leaning on his left side. Jiru nodded and shifted her left foot; allowing a different position so the blood could circulate.
"I know that Brooke fought the zombie samurai to rescue Jiru and her panties…" Here Jiru lightly tapped her captain for talking about her panties. "But hearing Jiru-chan tell the story with her saving Brooke and his panties is just too hilarious! Imagining Jiru fighting the zombie-samurai with a sword is exciting!"
The rest of the crew all shook their heads at Luffy's sense of humor as Nami spoke up in Jiru's defense.
"Luffy, you idiot!" the navigator finally ended her cold-shouldering on Jiru and sighed. "How can you possibly think that Jiru can fight with a sword?"
"Hhmm…" Luffy tilted his head back, looking thoughtful. "I don't know, I just find it funny." He laughed again as he received glares from his nakama.
"Oi, you baka! I'd never let Jiru-chwan pick up a sword, let alone fight a zombie samurai!" Sanji's annoyed voice jumped into the fray, defending a woman's dignity. "How stupid can you be?"
"Sanji, Luffy is right; picturing Jiru swinging a sword around is pretty funny." Usoppu laughed with Chopper.
"She'd be a female Zoro!" Chopper giggled.
"…" Nami grunted and dropped a disbelieving face into her hands.
"…" Usoppu tilted his head sideways, mentally picturing Jiru wearing a set of Zoro clothes.
"…" Franky looked plaintively at the reindeer. Next to him, Robin chuckled softly.
"…" Sanji blew out a puff of his cigarette smoke.
"Say what?" Jiru blinked at Usoppu/Chopper-logic.
"What!" Chopper now looked nervous and shy. "I didn't mean it, you assholes!" the young reindeer got up and promptly hid behind Usoppu, looking at all of them.
"GAAAAH!" Sanji broke the mild tense scene and ran his hands through his blonde hair in upset frustration. "That image it SOO wrong!" The cigarette dropped from his mouth as he continued to freak out over whatever perverted-twisted image his mind was coming up with.
"Oy, shit-cook, shut the hell up!" Zoro's baritone voice was heard. "You're too loud."
Luffy and Jiru turned to the sleeping swordsman and smiled. The green-haired male had one eye open and glaring nastily at the cook.
"EEEEE! Zoro-face!" Jiru mock squealed as she looked at Zoro's face. "I don't wanna be another Zoro!" The setting sun – having just gone below the horizon line – set the orange-indigo shadows on the marimo's face twisting and fierce. "It's so scary!"
Burying her own face on Luffy's shoulder; she shook with mild laughter; having teased the poor swordsman again.
"What the hell!" Zoro now had both his eyes open in annoyance. "What is your problem, woman?"
"Your face!" Jiru threw back.
"BWHAHAHAHAHAAH!" Sanji burst out with laughter; causing him to fall on his back on the grassy deck. This sent Usoppu, Chopper and Luffy into fits of laughter also, as the treasure hunter poked fun at the gruff and serious swordsman.
Across the table, Hachi, Camie and Pappug looked at each other in social confusion. The ocean-dwelling beings were confused and lost at the pirates' exchange and it showed.
"Don't mind them, Mermaid-chan." Robin's voice saved the day. "They're all like this at times."
"You can say that twice more, Robin-san." Nami's agitated voice followed up. "You'd think that Jiru would be the more mature person among them, but she really isn't."
"Hey! I resent that remark, Nami-san. I said I was sorry for laughing at you earlier, seriously!" Jiru's voice wove through the verbal laughter and squabbling.
"Sure you did, I accepted." The orange-haired navigator smiled back in the dying light.
"EEEKKK! Nami-face!" Jiru mock squealed again flinging her arms around Luffy's shoulders. "Soo scar-" Nami shot Jiru a death glare; making the female's voice catch as she changed her word mid-word. "…ily pretty!"
"Why, thank you, Jiru. That was very nice of you to compliment me!" Nami's face turned from demonic to angelic; fangs of death to beatific smile.
"Oy, Chibi-Sis, its still your turn! Don't try to forget about the game!" Franky's voice cut through the chattering and focused the rest back to the game.
"Right." Jiru stopped making faces at Nami and leaned back on Luffy. "My turn, right. Now…who to pick…Truth, Lie or Dare."
Building up the tension as she let her lagoon-green eyes rest on each person for a long series of seconds – she had Sanji and Usoppu wriggling in excitement for her to pick them, had Chopper frantically finding a place to hide so she wouldn't chose him and had Pappug hiding behind Hachi so he wouldn't be picked – Jiru ended up choosing Brooke.
"Ok, Brooke-san; Truth, Lie or Dare." She said after a minute.
"Ah. Oh, what to chose. I choose to answer a Truth!" the Skeleton hmm-ed and haa-ed over his decision and clapped his bony hand into his other.
"Truth, hhm ok…" Again, Jiru took her time in thinking of a question to ask the elderly skeleton. "Got it!"
"Ask it, Jiru, I wanna know Brooke's answer, since he has to answer truthfully!" Usoppu chattered in excitement.
"Usopp~U, hush, let her ask the question first, then you can get excited." Luffy chided his best friend lightly, as the teen-aged pirate looked down at Jiru's patient face.
"I hope it's a SUUUUP~A question, right, Chibi-Sis?" Franky inserted his voice.
"GAAAH, LET ME ASK BROOKE THE QUESTION!" Jiru hissed through her teeth at the interruptions.
"Oy, just go ahead and ask already, Chibi." Zoro needled the treasure hunter back and chuckled when she flipped him the finger.
"BROOKE!" Jiru's voice got louder. "WHO IS THE MOST FAMOUS PERSON YOU'VE MET?"
"The Silver Queen." The skeleton answered, making everyone – including Hachi – but Jiru gasp in awe.
"THE SILVER QUEEN!" The Mugiwaras and Fishman exclaimed.